Jeremiah 5
English Standard Version
Jerusalem Refused to Repent
5 (A)Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
look and take note!
Search her squares to see
(B)if you can find a man,
one who does justice
and seeks truth,
(C)that I may pardon her.
2 (D)Though they say, “As the Lord lives,”
(E)yet they swear falsely.
3 O Lord, do not your eyes look for truth?
(F)You have struck them down,
but they felt no anguish;
you have consumed them,
but they refused to take correction.
(G)They have made their faces harder than rock;
they have refused to repent.
4 Then I said, “These are only the poor;
they have no sense;
(H)for they do not know the way of the Lord,
the justice of their God.
5 I will go to the great
and will speak to them,
for they know the way of the Lord,
the justice of their God.”
(I)But they all alike had broken the yoke;
they had burst the bonds.
6 Therefore (J)a lion from the forest shall strike them down;
a (K)wolf from the desert shall devastate them.
(L)A leopard is watching their cities;
everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces,
because their transgressions are many,
their (M)apostasies are great.
7 (N)“How can I pardon you?
Your children have forsaken me
(O)and have sworn by those who are no gods.
(P)When I fed them to the full,
(Q)they committed adultery
(R)and trooped to the houses of whores.
8 They were well-fed, lusty stallions,
(S)each neighing (T)for his neighbor's wife.
9 (U)Shall I not punish them for these things?
declares the Lord;
and shall I not avenge myself
on a nation such as this?
10 (V)“Go up through her vine rows and destroy,
(W)but make not a full end;
strip away her branches,
for they are not the Lord's.
11 (X)For the house of Israel and the house of Judah
have been utterly treacherous to me,
declares the Lord.
12 They have spoken falsely of the Lord
and have said, ‘He will do nothing;
(Y)no disaster will come upon us,
(Z)nor shall we see sword or famine.
13 The prophets will become wind;
the word is not in them.
Thus shall it be done to them!’”
The Lord Proclaims Judgment
14 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts:
“Because you have spoken this word,
behold, (AA)I am making my words in your mouth (AB)a fire,
and this people wood, and the fire shall consume them.
15 (AC)Behold, I am bringing against you
a nation from afar, O house of Israel,
declares the Lord.
It is an enduring nation;
it is an ancient nation,
a nation whose language you do not know,
(AD)nor can you understand what they say.
16 (AE)Their quiver is like (AF)an open tomb;
they are all mighty warriors.
17 (AG)They shall eat up your harvest and your food;
they shall eat up your sons and your daughters;
they shall eat up your flocks and your herds;
they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees;
your (AH)fortified cities in which you trust
they shall beat down with the sword.”
18 “But even in those days, declares the Lord, (AI)I will not make a full end of you. 19 And when your people say, (AJ)‘Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ you shall say to them, ‘As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, (AK)so you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.’”
20 Declare this in the house of Jacob;
proclaim it in Judah:
21 “Hear this, (AL)O foolish and senseless people,
(AM)who have eyes, but see not,
who have ears, but hear not.
22 (AN)Do you not fear me? declares the Lord.
Do you not tremble before me?
I placed the sand (AO)as the boundary for the sea,
a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass;
though the waves toss, they cannot prevail;
though (AP)they roar, they cannot pass over it.
23 (AQ)But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;
they have turned aside and gone away.
24 They do not say in their hearts,
‘Let us fear the Lord our God,
(AR)who gives the rain in its season,
the autumn rain and the spring rain,
and keeps for us
(AS)the weeks appointed for the harvest.’
25 (AT)Your iniquities have turned these away,
and your sins have kept good from you.
26 For wicked men are found among my people;
(AU)they lurk like fowlers lying in wait.[a]
(AV)They set a trap;
they catch men.
27 Like a cage full of birds,
their houses are full of deceit;
therefore they have become great and rich;
28 (AW)they have grown fat and sleek.
They know no bounds in deeds of evil;
(AX)they judge not with justice
the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper,
and they do not defend the rights of the needy.
29 (AY)Shall I not punish them for these things?
declares the Lord,
and shall I not avenge myself
on a nation such as this?”
30 An appalling and (AZ)horrible thing
has happened in the land:
31 (BA)the prophets prophesy falsely,
and the priests rule at their direction;
(BB)my people love to have it so,
but what will you do when the end comes?
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 5:26 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
Jeremiah 5
International Children’s Bible
No One Is Right
5 The Lord says, “Walk up and down the streets of Jerusalem.
Look around and think about these things.
Search the public squares of the city.
See if you can find one person who does honest things.
Find just one who searches for the truth.
If you can, I will forgive this city.
2 The people say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives!’
But they don’t really mean it.”
3 Lord, don’t you look for truth in people?
You hit the people of Judah.
But they didn’t feel any pain.
You crushed them,
but they refused to learn what is right.
They became more stubborn than a rock.
They refused to turn back to God.
4 But I thought,
“These are only the poor, foolish people.
They have not learned the way of the Lord.
They do not know what their God wants them to do.
5 So I will go to the leaders of Judah.
I will talk to them.
Surely they understand the way of the Lord.
They know what God wants them to do.”
But the leaders had all joined together to break away from the Lord.
They broke their ties with him.
6 So a lion from the forest will attack them.
A wolf from the desert will kill them.
A leopard is hiding and waiting for them near their towns.
It will tear to pieces anyone who comes out of the city.
This will happen because the people of Judah have sinned greatly.
They have wandered away from the Lord many times.
7 The Lord said, “Tell me why I should forgive you.
Your children have left me.
They have made promises to idols that are not gods at all.
I gave your children everything they needed.
But they still were like an unfaithful wife to me.
They spent much time in houses of prostitutes.
8 They are like well-fed, male horses filled with sexual desire.
Each one wants another man’s wife.
9 Shouldn’t I punish the people of Judah for doing these things?” says the Lord.
“I should give a nation such as this the punishment it deserves.
10 “Go along and cut down Judah’s vineyards.
But do not completely destroy them.
Cut off all her people as if they were branches.
Do it because they do not belong to the Lord.
11 The families of Israel and Judah
have been completely unfaithful to me,” says the Lord!
12 Those people have lied about the Lord.
They have said, “The Lord will not do anything to us!
Nothing bad will happen to us.
We will never see war or hunger.
13 The prophets are like an empty wind.
The word of God is not in them.
Let these bad things they say happen to them.”
14 So this is what the Lord of heaven’s armies says:
“The people said I would not punish them.
So, Jeremiah, the words I give you will be like fire.
And these people will be like wood the fire burns up.
15 Listen, family of Israel,” says the Lord.
“I will soon bring a nation from far away to attack you.
It is an old nation that has lasted a long time.
The people there speak a language you do not know.
You cannot understand what they say.
16 Their arrows bring death.
All their men are strong warriors.
17 They will eat your crops and your food.
They will eat your sons and daughters.
They will eat your flocks and herds.
They will eat your grapes and figs.
They will destroy with their swords
the strong, walled cities you trust in!
18 “Yet even then,” says the Lord, “I will not destroy you completely. 19 The people of Judah will ask, ‘Why has the Lord our God done this terrible thing to us?’ Give them this answer: ‘You have left the Lord. You have served foreign idols in your own land. So now you will serve foreigners in a land that does not belong to you!’
20 “Announce this message to the family of Jacob.
And tell it to the nation of Judah:
21 Hear this message, you foolish people who have no sense.
You have eyes, but you don’t really see.
You have ears, but you don’t really listen.
22 Surely you are afraid of me,” says the Lord.
“You should shake with fear in my presence.
I am the one who made the beaches to be a border for the sea.
They keep the water in its place forever.
The waves may pound the beach, but they can’t win over it.
The waves may roar,
but they cannot go beyond it.
23 But the people of Judah are stubborn and have turned against me.
They have turned aside and gone away from me.
24 They do not say to themselves,
‘We should fear the Lord our God.
He gives us autumn and spring rains in their seasons.
He makes sure we have the harvest at the right time.’
25 But your evil has kept away both rain and harvest.
Your sins have kept you from enjoying good things.
26 There are wicked men among my people.
They are like men who make nets for catching birds.
But they set their traps to catch men instead of birds.
27 Like cages full of birds,
their houses are full of lies.
They have become rich and powerful.
28 They have grown big and fat.
There is no end to the evil things they do.
They won’t plead the case of the orphan.
They won’t help the poor be judged fairly.
29 Shouldn’t I punish the people of Judah for doing these things?” says the Lord.
“I should give a nation such as this the punishment it deserves.
30 “A terrible and shocking thing
has happened in the land of Judah:
31 The prophets tell lies.
The priests take power into their own hands.
And my people love it this way.
But what will you do when the end comes?
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
